Over the decades, Americans have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on failed "Department of Education" programs.

They haven't worked and, in fact, have provably made things worse.

Whether measured in aggregate or by pupil, spending on education has increased year after year, decade after decade, while test scores continue to decline.

And all of us know why:

Democrats hate school choice

Several years ago, the New York Times columnist David Brooks recently received an email from a Harvard economist. One powerful sentence read, "The attached study has changed my life as a scientist."

The Harvard Study (conducted by Roland Fryer and Will Dobbie) analyzed charter schools in Harlem. They compared students in the charter schools (called "Harlem Children's Zone") to all New York City public schools. What they discovered was nothing short of startling.

In a nutshell, they found that the Harlem Children’s Zone schools produced “enormous” gains: "[The study] makes a rigorous case, using two different methodologies, that the charter school investigated in this area (Promise Academy I, 6-8 grade) had a huge effect on children’s academic performance as measured by standardized tests. The effect size was particularly large in math - enough to close the black-white achievement gap, something that no previous (rigorously demonstrated) effect has come close to.

The Wall Street Journalpoints out the hypocrisy in stark terms: "President Obama and his Education Secretary have repeatedly promised to support "what works," regardless of ideology. But the teachers' unions adamantly oppose school vouchers, which provably work and work well. Ergo, Messrs. Obama and Duncan decided to kill a D.C. school voucher program that worked fabulously. Instead, they have forced poor kids back into the failed public schools that Messrs. Obama and Duncan would never deign to send their own children. What a disgrace."

* * * * * * * * *

And so I ask you reasonable Democrats: who are the racists here? Which party embraces failed policies, year after year and decade after decade?

And which party wants to fight the tyranny of Statism, dependency and racism?

The answers are obvious. All who favor liberty -- whether they are black, white, rich or poor -- should vote Republican.